Update: Barnes & Noble Set for Proxy Battle
GDA Staff -- Gifts and Dec, 8/23/2010 10:25:24 AM
New York — Delaware Judge Leo E. Strine Jr. upheld bookstore chain Barnes & Noble's ‘poison pill' provision. The decision came shortly after the company put itself on the block, and just hours after the retailer failed to reach a predicted settlement with its largest outside shareholder Ron Burkle and his investment firm, Yucaipa.
Now Burkle has launched a proxy fight for control of the bookstore chain, nominating three candidates to run for the B&N board, opposing the company slate that includes Barnes & Noble chairman Len Riggio. Yucaipa's slate includes Burkle as well as Stephen F. Bollenbach, non-executive chairman of KB Home and member of the board of Time Warner and Macy's, and Michael S. McQuary, CEO of Wheego Electric Cars, and partner in Ellis, McQuary, Stanley & Associates, an Atlanta-based consulting and investment firm.
According to Publisher's Lunch, Barnes & Noble has responded to Burkle's calls for more independent directors by adding two to its slate, David Golden, executive vice president and a partner at investment firm Revolution, and David Wilson, CEO of the non-profit education association. Current directors Michael del Guidice and Lawrence Zilavy decided not to stand for reelection after Strine found del Guidice too closely tied to Riggio's interests to be considered an independent director.
According to Bloomberg, Yucaipa will also seek to boost the number of shares an outsider may acquire to 30 percent from 20 percent, the stake allowed under the poison pill provision.
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